Collegiate Career

Sarah graduated in 2018 after spending two years at at the University at Buffalo (BIO) (NCAA Division I) and two years at Hofstra University (BIO) (NCAA Division I). Sarah started all 53 games of the 2018 season in the 4 spot for Hofstra, the #18 team in the country at the time. The team earned a CAA Conference Championship and NCAA Regional Tournament appearance where she was a key asset in their success (Article). She completed her senior season with a .336 batting average and .453 OBP, with 12 doubles,  6 home runs and 32 RBIs.  She finished her collegiate career as an NFCA All-Northeast Region First-Team selection, First-Team All-Colonial Athletic Association selection, CoSIDA Academic All-District selection, NFCA All-America Scholar-Athlete and two-time CAA All-Tournament Team selection.

As a hitter Sarah has great plate awareness and pitch selection, known for working deep into counts and drawing walks. At Hofstra she holds the 5th-most single-season walks in program history with 31. She earned the nickname “Clutch,” known to execute high-pressure situations including a game-winning 2-run homerun in extra innings against FIU and a game-winning RBI in extra innings against eventual College World Series champions, Florida State. She ended her 53 game senior season on a 22 game reached-base streak.

On the base paths Sarah has average speed and good base running skills, known for avoiding tags. Sarah’s catching abilities were described as having a very strong & accurate arm, good command of the field, and great pitch calling knowledge. She is known for her good hands and athleticism in the field as well as her willingness to fill any defensive role needed, even as a left-handed thrower. Sarah also has 10 years of coaching experience and would be open to helping out with the youth program.

Overseas Career

For Sarah’s first season in Europe she was under two contracts during the 2018 summer. She first played for the Lucerne Eagles in Switzerland for the regular season and 2018 European Winners Cup in the Netherlands. She was a key asset in helping a 2-10 team win their last 6 out of 8 games to make the playoffs. She took the league by storm, finishing with a stat line of .680/.758/1.160.

In the 2018 European Winners Cup in Rotterdam while competing against numerous NPF players, Sarah was at the top of almost every offensive statistic. She went on to finish with Old Parma Taurus in Italy for the second half of their season. She helped a 3-17 team win 4 of their last 12 games to get them out of relegation.

Following her success in Europe, Sarah played with the Western Magpies in Auckland, New Zealand for the 2018-2019 winter. While catching and playing outfield with the Western Magpies in 2018-19 Sarah maintained a perfect fielding percentage of 1.000 through 20 league games. She helped her team win the Auckland Softball Championship and the New Zealand Club Nationals Championship. At the NZ Club Nationals tournament she helped the Magpies advance to the semi-finals with a walk-off RBI sac fly in the 8th inning against Auckland rivals Otahuhu. She finished the tournament with a stat line of .455/.630/.500 through 8 games.

Sarah returned to Italy for the 2019 season with the Old Parma Taurus. She offensively led the team in every category and individually had a great season, finishing with the statistics .350/.460/.475. For the second half of the summer she signed to play in the 2019 European Premiere Cup in Italy and the Dutch Golden League playoffs with defending champions Olympia Haarlem. She helped them win the bronze medal at the European Premiere cup and become finalists in the Holland championship series. In the “Top 4” round of playoffs, while playing against the most competitive teams in the league Sarah earned a stat line of .636/.692/.909 in 5 games and racked up the most RBI’s in the postseason with 9.

In 2020 she played for Inox Team Saronno for her 3rd Italian season. Her regular season statistics were .485/.697/.647 in 13 games. She finished the regular season 4th in the league for Batting Average, 6th for Slugging, 2nd for OBP, 2nd for OPS and led the league in walks with 16.  She reached base in 19 out of 20 total games played. Saronno finished 2nd in the Serie A1 Softball Championship, losing to MFK Bollate in the final game. It was the club’s first appearance in the Italian championship final.

In 2021 Sarah returned to Old Parma to play her 4th season in the Italian Softball League. She led the regular season in triples with 5. In 40 games (2020 & 2021 combined) while playing a mix of catcher, outfield and first base, Sarah committed only two errors. She also participated in the 2021 European Premier Cup with CBS Rivas Madrid, playing a mix of center field and catcher. She helped the Spanish team to a 4th place finish, having scored the most runs on the team (6).

In February of 2022, Sarah spoke in an interview with Grandeslam.net about her softball career, future goals and mental health. She had recently signed with Bertazzoni Collecchio for her 5th Italian season. In the 2022 season she played CF/1B/C and batted primarily in the leadoff spot. She helped Collecchio to a 4th place finish and she finished the regular season as the team leader in runs, hits, doubles, home runs, total bases, and walks. She finished second on the team in OBP and slugging. Across 11 teams in the league, she found herself situated 10th in runs, 9th in triples, and tied for 2nd in walks. She walked 21 times in 96 plate appearances (22%).

Sarah joined CBS Rivas once more to participate in the 2022 European Premier Cup, helping them to another 4th place finish. In the 8-team tournament among the best club teams in Europe, she finished 7th in runs (7), 9th in hits (8), 8th in OBP (.556), and 2nd in walks (7) in only 27 plate appearances.

Italian National Team

In December of 2019 Sarah finished the process of getting her Italian Passport and became a member of the Italian National Team (Article). She was selected to play on the 20 women roster for the 2020 Australia Pacific Cup. (Article) She played catcher against Chinese Taipei, globally ranked #6 at the time, which resulted in an Italian victory of 6-3. She also played right field against the Aussie Spirit. She was in the Olympic selection pool for Team Italia in their preparation for Tokyo (Article), but was not selected for the 15 player Olympic roster.

Sarah was reselected by the Italian National Team in 2022 for the 15 player roster that participated in the World Games in Birmingham, Alabama. She helped Italy to a victory over Mexico, globally ranked #4, with a sacrifice fly that extended the Azzurre lead to the final score of 4-1. Sarah played every game of the tournament at first base and kept a perfect fielding percentage.

Shortly after, Sarah wore the Italian jersey again for the 2022 European Championship in Sant Boi, Spain. In her very first at-bat of the tournament Sarah homered to put up three runs in Italy’s 11-0 victory over Poland. She also played a major part in Italy’s 4-3 win over Germany. The Azzurre found themselves down 3-0 before Sarah scored two runs and batted in two teammates to give them the 4 runs needed to win.

Italy came in third place in the tournament after winning the bronze medal game against the Czech Republic. Sarah finished 3rd on the team in runs (9), 3rd in RBIs (8), 2nd in OBP (.519), 3rd in OPS (.990), and 1st in walks (10). Her 10 walks were the most in the tournament across 21 teams.

Any club in need of a versatile lefty, big bat with discipline, and someone with great knowledge of softball is encouraged to reach out to Sarah for the 2022-23 winter or the 2023 summer season.

Minor League Baseball

Sarah was appointed as the Philadelphia Phillies Hitting Development Coach in January of 2023 for their rookie ball team in the Florida Complex League. She served as the first female coach in Phillies franchise history, since their origin in 1883. As she mentioned in an interview with MLB.com, she believed that her experience as an overseas player prepared her to work and bond with the Phillies international athletes. As she put it, her role is in developing power and contact hitters alike, and “instilling in them that they can be the type of hitter that they want to be and still make it to ‘the Bigs.'”

Sports Illustrated published an article about Sarah once in February and again in March for Women’s History Month, where they acknowledged that she is “helping pave the way forward for young women in the sport.” (article)

Her new position also caught the attention of some smaller and more local news outlets, including The Brunswick News, That Ball’s Outta Here, Phillies Nation, the Philadelphia Inquirer, BVM Sports, and NBC10 Philadelphia. She made international news, being featured on the Italian blog, Che Palle.

Baseball Jobs Overseas has also released our own article about Sarah’s historic accomplishment.

USA Baseball Women’s National Team

Sarah joined Team USA Women’s Baseball for the 2023 World Cup Group Stage in Thunder Bay, Ontario. Sarah was among over 100 women who attended try outs for Team USA in Mesa, Arizona, and first made the Top 40 Camp roster before being selected for the 20 player roster to represent USA in the World Cup. Sarah was the team’s only newcomer to have never played baseball before – all of her teammates had already put in time on the national team or had been in the player development pipeline. She served as backup 1B/RF in the Cup, hitting an RBI double in her first-ever baseball at-bat to extend USA’s lead over Korea. (article) (video) Sarah took the time to chat with Michael Clair from MLB.com about the team, the baseball industry and her lifelong journey as an athlete.

After having gone undefeated in the group stage with a staggering cumulative runs score of 71-2 through 5 games, (schedule & results) the dominant Team USA will take the field together again at the 2024 Women’s Baseball World Cup, the 10th edition in tournament history.